Friday, March 25, 2011

Blood Orange Cornmeal Cake

It's blood orange season. I love cooking with blood oranges because the color is so vibrant! However, I usually don't eat the blood oranges raw. My favorite citrus are the Cara Cara, Satsuma and this year, the Dekopon or Sumo Citrus.

This cake is super easy to make and you can use all types of citrus. I've used Cara Cara in the past and navels too. The cornmeal provides a nice texture.

I used several blood oranges and 1/2 a cara cara orange. The blood oranges are so pretty! The batter is super easy. Dry and wet ingredients combine with a whisk. No Kitchen Aid needed here.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prep 8-inch round cake pan with butter or Pam spray.
2. In a large bowl, rub the zest with the sugar until fragrant and damp. Whisk in oil, eggs, orange juice until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, combing flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients and whisk until combined. Don't overmix.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle top evenly with 1/3 cup sugar (topping will be thick). Bake until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
6. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake; invert cake gently onto a plate or parchment covered cooling rack (you'll lose some of the sugar topping). Reinvert cake onto a rack to cool completely. If you wish, you can serve with fresh orange segments.

I just made a honey orange cornmeal cake the other day that is very similar to this one. I actually loved how simple and delicious it was. It really took me back to when I was a little girl eating home made baked goodies :-) I may have to give this one a go since I love blood oranges. I already have some in the house :-)

Those oranges look amazing. I remember everyone cooking with them last year and can't believe a whole year has gone by since then. I haven't seen any over here for years. Your cake looks good too of course :)

I have really wanted to try a few recipes with blood oranges but I have never been able to find them anywhere. I just made the Meyer Lemon Cornmeal cake that I saw you made and I really loved the cornmeal in it. I want to make this too. You are so lucky to have so many varieties of citrus available to you!